Rape accused held, victim’s detention to be probed

Under fire for the illegal detention of a 10-year-old rape victim in the lock-up on Monday, the Bulandshahr police claimed on Tuesday that they arrested the accused Harendra alias Bauna. But a top police officer said here that the accused was detained for interrogation.

Inspector-General (Crime and STF) Ashish Gupta said Kalua and Inderpal, brothers of the accused, were also detained for trying to intimidate the victim’s family at Meerpur in Bulandshahr. The girl’s family alleged that they got no security even after they were threatened by persons close to the accused. Police have been deployed in the village.

Tuesday’s action follows the suspension of women constables Neeru and Sonia and the removal of Mahila Thana in-charge Gayashree Chauhan and sub-inspector Sarita Dwivedi, who were sent to the Police Lines on Monday.

According to the FIR lodged by the girl’s father with the Kotwali police station, his daughter had gone to a nearby shop for buying some essentials in the night when she was taken away by the youth, who raped her and escaped. When the victim and her parents went to the station for filing a complaint, the girl was kept in the lock-up of the Mahila Thana for several hours.

Mr. Gupta said the girl was kept in the cabin inside the lock-up before she was put through a medical examination. The police personnel should have been compassionate towards her; they should have even counselled her. The full report of the medical test was yet to come in, so were the findings of the pathological test.

Vaibhav Krishna, ASP, Bulandshahr, has been asked to conduct an inquiry into the detention.